Best and Worst Fast Food

There are plenty of sites devoted to the health benefits and drawbacks of eating fast food, but this is about the real reasons for its popularity: price, convenience and taste. Whether nutritionists like it or not, those are the most likely reasons for choosing one fast-food spot over another.

Other opinions are welcome - that's what comments are all about.

Fast Food Contenders

There are plenty of offerings out there, but this entry will focus only on the chains that span one end of the US to the other. They are, in no particular order: McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, KFC, Arby's, Subway, Burger King, Long John Silver's, and Wendy's.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how does your favorite rate? Read on to see.

McDonald's Ratings

Love it or hate it, there's no escaping the grandfather of all fast food restaurants. The official McDonald's corporate site gives a birthdate of April 15, 1955, in the middle of the post-war baby boom. Its original red and white tiles didn't survive the decades, but the classic golden arches symbol did.

Back in the 1960's and even the 1970's, McDonald's marquees boasted how many million (or later, billion) burgers they sold. According to an article from Time Magazine, dated September 17, 1973, McDonald's surpassed the US Army as the nation's biggest dispenser of meals.

For its taste qualities... Not so good. Like the US Army, McDonald's operates on the mentality of getting out the most numbers in the least amount of time, for the lowest possible cost.

While McDonald's food is mostly acceptable, no one would ever mistake its offerings for haute cuisine. On the other hand, McDonald's is everywhere, and its food is consistent no matter which store you visit. There's a McDonald's fast-food outlet in virtually every hamlet across the country, and the franchise is spreading worldwide.

Ratings:
Price: 8
Convenience: 9
Taste: 4
Overall score: 7.0

Jack in the Box Ratings

Jack in the Box may be the quirkiest restaurant in the fast food arena. It took rival McDonald's mascot clown and turned it into an edgier caricature.

Like McDonald's, Jack in the Box built its repertoire around the burger and expanded from there. But where McDonald's peripheral entries are geared families (and therefore bland,) Jack in the Box stepped up the pace to include fresh foods, some of which easily rival the quality in sit-down establishments.

Jack in the Box has a revolving menu, with some items make periodic appearances (example: the Chicken Fajita Pita) and others only available for a limited time before falling into fast-food oblivion.

While health concerns aren't the primary thrust of this article, Jack in the Box may have some of the healthiest options because its food goes heavier than others on fresh vegetables and garnishes. Flavor varies according to price levels, with the bargain menu items least palatable.

Prices are slightly higher overall than McDonald's, with some foods hovering near $5. Jack in the Box also has fewer locations than its bigger rival and its drive can be somewhat slow.

Ratings:
Price: 7
Convenience: 7
Taste: 10
Overall score: 8.0

Taco Bell Ratings

Taco Bell is the Southwestern answer to fast food, its cuisine geared exclusively Mexican (or an Americanized version of Mexican food.) The Taco Bell menu is therefore the most predictable and one of the least varied fast food options.

In some parts of the country there are more Taco Bell restaurants even than McDonald's, a testament to its popularity. Prices are low, with several items under $1 and few exceeding $3. Unlike its competitors, Taco Bell doesn't have that have the dreaded taste of Institution - not even in the "cheap" menu.

Ratings:
Price: 9
Convenience: 8
Taste: 6
Overall score: 7.6

KFC Ratings

It used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken, back in the day when Colonel Sanders was still alive. Political correctness would later change that to KFC, since nobody wanted to admit they ate anything fried.

KFC still offers a menu based around its mainstay: chicken. Side dishes are available but nary a burger in sight. The chicken itself tends to be a bit greasy but otherwise it's pretty good. The side dishes taste like they were stolen from a grade school lunchroom.

Among fast food giants, KFC's prices skew on the high end. Feeding a family of four easily sets you back more than $20, and the drive through window crawls along.

Ratings:
Price: 3
Convenience: 5
Taste: 4
Overall score: 4.0

Arby's Ratings

What do you call a fast food restaurant that offers no fried chicken, no burgers and no Mexican food, is by far the slowest drive through, and costs more than the average fast food chain?

The Arby's empire is built around paper-thin sliced roast beef, piled onto a hamburger bun. While it has other respectable items on its menu, the roast beef sandwich in its various permutations is the Arby's anchor and biggest seller.

In theory this should move Arby's to the head of the fast food class. In reality, the roast beef is not just thin as paper, it's also about as flavorful. Other foods on the menu are fortunately more acceptable, including what may well be the best BLT sandwich on the market. The fried mozarella sticks are palatable, too, and I personally give them bonus points for offering the only French dip on the fast food market. (Even if it is created using the paper approximation of roast beef.)

Ratings:
Price: 3
Convenience: 2
Taste: 5
Overall score: 3.3

Subway Ratings

Few Subway restaurants have drive through windows, so points are subtracted for convenience. Still, Subway comes on strong in both taste and in the fact that it's one of the healthiest fast food alternatives available.

Subway, like Taco Bell, offers a fairly restricted menu. Subway is all about submarine-style sandwiches, though it also offers its sandwich bases in salad form. Subway bakes its sandwich breads fresh daily and assembles orders in clear view of its patrons.

The downside is that most sandwiches are based around processed meat products and prices run higher than say, a burger and fries.

Ratings:
Price: 3
Convenience: 4
Taste: 9
Overall score: 5.3

Burger King Ratings

Can you really Have It Your Way?

Well, yes.

Sort of.

Burger King promises not to balk when asked for changes to their menu standards, and they don't. On the other hand, their flame-broiled burgers are pre-cooked and sometimes rubbery. Other menu entries are moderately better tasting, but still nothing to write home about. They're a step up from institutionalized food and do feature fresh veggies on their burgers, a plus.

The drive through moves along and prices are modest.

Ratings:
Price: 8
Convenience: 8
Taste: 5
Overall score: 7.0

Long John Silver's Ratings

The sole seafood outlet (no pun intended) in this article, Long John Silvers is also a fairly small player among fast food giants. The Long John Silver's site boasts 1200 restaurants nationwide - respectable, but hardly in the same caliber as McDonald's or Burger King.

Long John Silvers has the least varied menu offerings of the restaurants in this review, and is possibly the least healthy. About the only non-fried items are corn on the cob and coleslaw.

Perhaps the worst part of Long John Silver's is how heavily everything is battered. The fish and chicken are pretty good if you can get past the tough, grease-laden outer crust. Long John Silver's got the seasonings right, but that's not enough to overlook deep-fried batter so hard and sharp it's literally cut my gums a couple of times.

I wish I could say it was a problem restricted to just one of the LJS outlets. It's not.

And yet I return, each time hoping against hope that someone at LJS headquarters will have acquired, bought or stolen a clue.

Because darn it, I want fish.

Ratings:
Price: 4
Convenience: 5
Taste: 1
Overall score: 3.3

Wendy's Ratings

Wendy's, the fast food restaurant with the square burger, offers the most varied menu of the fast food giants. Its burgers are almost a sideline to salads, baked potatoes, and even chili.

Flavor varies from one entree to another. The salads are fresh and probably the best available in the world of fast food, with a couple of standards and a couple of rotating alternatives. Sandwiches likewise change out from time to time, though the chain has an annoying habit of tampering with a favorite to "improve" it, in the process rendering it unpalatable.

Prices are varied, with several items under $1. Some of the higher priced sandwiches are actually overpriced for the quality.

Ratings:
Price: 6
Convenience: 6
Taste: 7
Overall score: 6.3

Fast Food Ratings At A Glance

The winner in the fast food ratings? According to my numbers, Jack in the Box comes out on top, with an overall 8.0 - followed by Taco Bell at 7.6. At the bottom of the proverbial barrel are Arby's and Long John Silver's, with shared ratings of 3.3.

Taste is, of course, purely subjective. Convenience is likewise different according to your location. If you happen to live next door to Wendy's, naturally, it's going to be more convenient than driving five miles to McDonald's. Convenience also translates into hours of operation, with some McDonald's and Jack in the Box restaurants open 24 hours and Wendy's and Taco Bell open until midnight or thereabouts. Price is more factual based, but cheap is also perception. Is it cheaper for something that costs $1 but is inedible, or something that's $5 and divine?

Let the debate begin!